Young British man offers stranded, pretty girl a lift--but is he the psychopathic killer all the police are searching for? Damp, chilly film from the UK does boast a stylish direction (the rolling compact, the chase in the parking structure) and fine performances from the principals, particularly Hayley Mills in what must have been just a quick movie-stop on her busy theatrical schedule of the 1970s. Mills isn't flatteringly photographed here, but she's a natural, never winking at the camera for affect and never adding more to a scene than is needed. Nerve-jangling yarn will probably surprise you with its twists. It has a compact screenplay and is well paced. **1/2 from ****
29 Reviews
Interestingly Odd
recluse29 April 2019
One surprise after another in this (would you call it a thriller?) English film. I especially liked it because it showed me a lot of England as it might look from a car window (at least in 1975). Stores, pubs, petrol stations and the everyday places you would encounter traveling along the road. All sorts of action takes place yet (somehow) it still manages to be on the slow side despite the excitement that keeps cropping up. The mystery of it, and its oddity and unpredictability keep it going. For some reason I really found the sounds in this film appealing.
Oh, Hayley...
efffigie8 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I am writing this review as I finally managed to find this movie and watch it; and really, because I admit that, even though I knew at the time (late 1970s) that Mills was much older in real life than in the Disney movies I saw her in, I had the biggest boy crush on her. Embarrassing I know, but I doubt I was alone.
This movie is quite good; it manages to make the green, lustrous English countryside seem genuinely menacing and eerie. It's one of those 'road movies' where a stranger is picked up, that may or may not be who or what they say they are. It reminds me a bit of movies like THE HITCHER and such like.
And yes, a VERY adult Hayley Mills turns out to be not at all what one may think, and also gets naked in this movie, and I am deeply glad I didn't see it back when I was a young teen: I think it would have ruined my life!
This movie is quite good; it manages to make the green, lustrous English countryside seem genuinely menacing and eerie. It's one of those 'road movies' where a stranger is picked up, that may or may not be who or what they say they are. It reminds me a bit of movies like THE HITCHER and such like.
And yes, a VERY adult Hayley Mills turns out to be not at all what one may think, and also gets naked in this movie, and I am deeply glad I didn't see it back when I was a young teen: I think it would have ruined my life!
A man and woman meet on the side of a road and decide to share a ride. Almost at the same time it is revealed that there is a raving psychopath on the loose. It's pretty obvious that one of these two people
verna5526 September 2000
An effective suspense story with terrific performances by Hayley Mills and Simon Ward. Mills was twenty-seven at the time and was obviously working to completely shed what was left of her POLLYANNA/DISNEY image. Given that the actress appears throughout the film in various stages of undress, and is seen in several other compromising positions, I would say her plight was successful. Though the story may at first seem like a transparent/psycho-on-the-loose chiller, the film has some strikingly effective new twists, and there are enough red herrings for two films! The film has been unavailable on video for some time and rarely appears on TV, but it's most certainly worth the extra effort to find it!!!!!
Why Hitch Hiking Expired.
rmax30482329 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I don't think any normal person would claim this film's opening scenes are pregnant with possibility. There are all the symptoms of a cheap horror flick -- the lurid colors, the tinny electronic score, the conceit of the killer's point of view, the murders -- three of them -- before the opening credits roll and one murder immediately after. The first killing has a pretty British nurse killed in a hospital after being injected with some kind of potion, gasping, legs kicking, underpants showing. Night time. Few lights, mostly red or a bleached, ghoulish green, and blinding white. Ominous. All portending a ride through the Haunted House at Disneyland.
We never get to see the psychotic killer during his or her escape from the booby hatch. So who could it be? There are myriad red herrings. Simon Ward, "Young Winston," looks awfully suspicious when we first see him at a roadside stop, playing a slot machine and staring at himself in the mirror. Would any sane person look at himself in a mirror? I know I wouldn't. Then there's Hayley Mills -- oh, so innocent; maybe TOO innocent, with her plump lower lip and those shapely knees. The director, by the way, seems to have a thing for knees. Well, in Hayley Mills' case, he can't be blamed. And, after all, Luis Bunuel was into shoes and Walt Disney spent a lot of time around animals.
Then there is Sterling Hayden who brings a bit of color to a familiar story of hitch hikers and maniacs. He's dressed like Captain Ahab and has a bushy gray beard of a retired Civil War general. He puts more energy into his brief role as an old blowhard than he has in any other performance, outside of "Dr. Strangelove," where the effort was masked by his real acting skills.
Among the felicities, Mills' knees aside, there are those cute British phone booths. I don't know why America can't make its phone booths out of wood and paint them a bright crimson. They look sturdy, and comfortable enough to spend hours in. Among the weaknesses, well, an example. At a gas station, Ward happens upon a window through which he sees a young woman undressing and getting into what appears to be a uniform shirt. While the camera gapes at her figure, there are interpolated cuts, three or four of them, to the gigantic close up of Ward's single blue eye. The effect is almost surreal but that isn't what the director and editor intended. They just did it because one of them, seized by a brain storm, said something like, "Shouldn't we have a big close up of the actor's eye, so that we know he's still peeping?" Imagine Hitchcock cutting back and forth from Janet Leigh's undressing to a bulging close up of Anthony Perkins' eyeball.
There are flashbacks heralded by slow camera movement into a close up, followed by a dissolve, harp music, the flashback with its edges blurred. Both actors suffer from them. Mill's are about her happy youth, riding a horse along the beach, until we reach the part where she was sexually abused as a child. (Zzzz.) Ward's are about impotence. The logic of the tale is flawed; Ward and Mills quarrel when they first meet, but before you know it, and without adumbration, Mills is actively protecting him -- because he might have accidentally killed an aggressive motorcyclist.
The ending emerges from the shadows and the identity of the murdering lunatic is revealed. If it's a surprise, it's only because some earlier incidents have made this ending impossible.
We never get to see the psychotic killer during his or her escape from the booby hatch. So who could it be? There are myriad red herrings. Simon Ward, "Young Winston," looks awfully suspicious when we first see him at a roadside stop, playing a slot machine and staring at himself in the mirror. Would any sane person look at himself in a mirror? I know I wouldn't. Then there's Hayley Mills -- oh, so innocent; maybe TOO innocent, with her plump lower lip and those shapely knees. The director, by the way, seems to have a thing for knees. Well, in Hayley Mills' case, he can't be blamed. And, after all, Luis Bunuel was into shoes and Walt Disney spent a lot of time around animals.
Then there is Sterling Hayden who brings a bit of color to a familiar story of hitch hikers and maniacs. He's dressed like Captain Ahab and has a bushy gray beard of a retired Civil War general. He puts more energy into his brief role as an old blowhard than he has in any other performance, outside of "Dr. Strangelove," where the effort was masked by his real acting skills.
Among the felicities, Mills' knees aside, there are those cute British phone booths. I don't know why America can't make its phone booths out of wood and paint them a bright crimson. They look sturdy, and comfortable enough to spend hours in. Among the weaknesses, well, an example. At a gas station, Ward happens upon a window through which he sees a young woman undressing and getting into what appears to be a uniform shirt. While the camera gapes at her figure, there are interpolated cuts, three or four of them, to the gigantic close up of Ward's single blue eye. The effect is almost surreal but that isn't what the director and editor intended. They just did it because one of them, seized by a brain storm, said something like, "Shouldn't we have a big close up of the actor's eye, so that we know he's still peeping?" Imagine Hitchcock cutting back and forth from Janet Leigh's undressing to a bulging close up of Anthony Perkins' eyeball.
There are flashbacks heralded by slow camera movement into a close up, followed by a dissolve, harp music, the flashback with its edges blurred. Both actors suffer from them. Mill's are about her happy youth, riding a horse along the beach, until we reach the part where she was sexually abused as a child. (Zzzz.) Ward's are about impotence. The logic of the tale is flawed; Ward and Mills quarrel when they first meet, but before you know it, and without adumbration, Mills is actively protecting him -- because he might have accidentally killed an aggressive motorcyclist.
The ending emerges from the shadows and the identity of the murdering lunatic is revealed. If it's a surprise, it's only because some earlier incidents have made this ending impossible.
Deadly Strangers
Scarecrow-8827 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
British road thriller about an escaped maniac on the loose, having escaped from an insane asylum and killed a nurse. DEADLY STRANGERS follows two young adults, both with their own psychological hang-ups, Belle Adams(Hayley Mills), visiting her old childhood home, Stephen Slade(Simon Ward; FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED), a farm-equipment salesman..could one of these two actually be the the lunatic on the lam? Sidney Hayers may be best known for directing the cult favorite NIGHT OF THE EAGLE(BURN, WITCH, BURN!)and he keeps our interest by creating doubt for both characters we follow until the very end when the great revelation tells us the answer to that great mystery of who it is that broke free from Greenwood Mental Hospital. Slade is a sexual deviant who likes to peep on girls while they are undressing and we are privy to flashback memories as Stephen has uncomfortable developments with a lady love who finds bondage magazines, wondering why he seems impotent with her in bed. Belle lost her parents to a car crash, having to live with a sleazy, pedophile uncle who bursts in on her while she is bathing, attempting later to rape her, paying the consequences for his actions. Hayers has the difficult task of keeping us gripped by two people traveling by car through the British countryside, by including motorcycle bullies who try to rile up Slade, once in a diner, then later on the road by blocking him so he can not pass them..the result, a crash which offers the possibility that the rider was killed. Also interrupting their journey is an old American eccentric(portrayed with enthusiasm and gusto by Sterling Hayden, dressed as an aristocrat) with charm to spare and vocabulary to spark conversation which captures Belle's attention and cooperation(she has to ride, walk, and dine with him so he has to serve up something to get her to accompany him). Something Hayden reads in the newspaper motivates him to try to catch up with Slade, later to be elaborated when a policeman sees the same front page article(he pulled Slade over for a broken head light). The movie often immerses us into the lurid pasts of both leads and most of the characters Mills comes in contact with want to jump her bones. This will probably be most notorious for featuring Mills(of POLLYANNA & PARENT TRAP fame)in not only a bra and panties, but naked as well(not for very long, but just her breasts and ass is startling when you know her from the Disney success). While the subject matter can be a bit sordid, its not as violent(or as sleazy) as it could've been. The reveal I don't imagine will surprise anybody..
suspenseful thriller about an escaped mental patient
myriamlenys10 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Now this is one of those thrillers which look meandering and freewheeling, but have been tautly constructed around a very clever plot. The result is pretty suspenseful ; it is also pretty unsettling. From a technical viewpoint, the various flashbacks could have been inserted in a more elegant way, but I might be wrong : perhaps they, too, contribute to the real/unreal atmosphere of the movie. The viewer, like the characters themselves, gets sucked into a shimmering, shifting nightmare where everything and anything could happen.
This is a movie for a fully adult and mature audience, since a number of the characters are suffering from some kind of psychosexual trauma or psychosexual disturbance. In other words : keep this one away from the kids...
Fun note : "Deadly strangers" contains one of the most angelic looking juvenile delinquents I have ever seen. This is a cherub who could out-cherub other cherubs. One wonders about this kind of creative decision-making. ("Remind me to introduce you to Casting. The best of fellows, he's been with us for ages, but do try to keep him away from the cooking sherry. What ? You've already met him ? And he was on his second bottle of Italian red ? That is... problematic.")
This is a movie for a fully adult and mature audience, since a number of the characters are suffering from some kind of psychosexual trauma or psychosexual disturbance. In other words : keep this one away from the kids...
Fun note : "Deadly strangers" contains one of the most angelic looking juvenile delinquents I have ever seen. This is a cherub who could out-cherub other cherubs. One wonders about this kind of creative decision-making. ("Remind me to introduce you to Casting. The best of fellows, he's been with us for ages, but do try to keep him away from the cooking sherry. What ? You've already met him ? And he was on his second bottle of Italian red ? That is... problematic.")
The best performance comes from the Maxi
ianmpennick15 August 2009
Deadly Strangers is quite a basic storyline with twist, the dialogue is a little flat, Chat up lines involving ostrich eggs for example.. The story rumbles along with a watchable quality and being a road movie the pace does pick up in the chase scenes. Though towards the end the chase in the woods tends to drop the action. One thing that is well worth noticing is the use of small mount cameras, quite innovative then. In many respects this film is more a car spotters dream.. If your into 70's British cars you will be pausing the DVD more times than you can imagine!Overall Hayley ,Simon and Sterling carry this script off,but the most surprising performance comes from the Maxi!!
Outstanding low budget psychological thriller
Leofwine_draca10 June 2016
Being a big fan of road movies, this rarity instantly appealed to me. It's a British production, a thriller which has enough twists, turns, tricks and red herrings to rival any recent blockbuster. By keeping the plot simple (it's a bit like a low-key, subtle version of THE HITCHER), the director allows us to focus on the characters in the film and get to know them as events unfold through plenty of down-to-earth dialogue. It's a simple way of grabbing the audience's attention, but you'd be surprised how many films can't even grasp this simple concept.
Every trick in the book is pulled out here to keep the pace flying along. There's plenty of action, car chases, some weird psychological flashbacks which only reveal their importance at the film's climax, drama, suspense, plus the expected violence and nudity required to make this a sleazy epic. And it's all British, too, which gives it a novelty value unlike any other film I've seen - as I've said before, a little bit of originality goes a long way.
Another plus is the high standard of acting on display here from the two leads. Both Simon Ward and Hayley Mills utterly convince us that they are the characters that they play, each with distinctive personalities and their own ways of dealing with situations. Ward is thoroughly charismatic and appealingly innocent as the young man who may or may not be a killer, while Mills bypasses the "screaming girl" factor so apparent in many horror films to become a fully-fleshed, believable person who proves to be resourceful and independent time and time again. American legend Sterling Hayden also pops up for a cameo as a quirky old chap who thinks that his luck's in with Mills - it isn't.
This is a film which had me gripped right until the very end. Only in the closing minutes is the killer's identity confirmed, so it has you guessing right up until then. All this and plenty of fun moments too, such as a pair of Hells Angels who get more than they bargained for when one of their bikes is run off the road and explodes! What makes this film work for me is that the film is firmly rooted in reality, making what happens all the more interesting and involving. All the characters come across as real, everyday folk and even the British weather is spot on. DEADLY STRANGERS is a good example of clever, intelligent film-making and of what can be achieved on a low budget. Outstanding.
Every trick in the book is pulled out here to keep the pace flying along. There's plenty of action, car chases, some weird psychological flashbacks which only reveal their importance at the film's climax, drama, suspense, plus the expected violence and nudity required to make this a sleazy epic. And it's all British, too, which gives it a novelty value unlike any other film I've seen - as I've said before, a little bit of originality goes a long way.
Another plus is the high standard of acting on display here from the two leads. Both Simon Ward and Hayley Mills utterly convince us that they are the characters that they play, each with distinctive personalities and their own ways of dealing with situations. Ward is thoroughly charismatic and appealingly innocent as the young man who may or may not be a killer, while Mills bypasses the "screaming girl" factor so apparent in many horror films to become a fully-fleshed, believable person who proves to be resourceful and independent time and time again. American legend Sterling Hayden also pops up for a cameo as a quirky old chap who thinks that his luck's in with Mills - it isn't.
This is a film which had me gripped right until the very end. Only in the closing minutes is the killer's identity confirmed, so it has you guessing right up until then. All this and plenty of fun moments too, such as a pair of Hells Angels who get more than they bargained for when one of their bikes is run off the road and explodes! What makes this film work for me is that the film is firmly rooted in reality, making what happens all the more interesting and involving. All the characters come across as real, everyday folk and even the British weather is spot on. DEADLY STRANGERS is a good example of clever, intelligent film-making and of what can be achieved on a low budget. Outstanding.
You never can tell...
punishmentpark2 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Well, I read two very enthusiastic reviews (not on IMDb, but elsewhere) and got a little enthusiastic myself... I'll admit it's not all bad but still, this is no must-see thriller.
First off, the 'kills' are pretty much a joke. Which is not a big problem, if the story is gripping and convincing. Though it has some clever elements and twists, the most important one (SHE is the killer) was pretty obvious to me after a good forty minutes. Furthermore the film balances between a proper production and a b-movie all too often. The biggest fun is to be had with a surprising attendance of the legendary Sterling Hayden, as some sort of rugged, bearded baron with overly grand posture to match... hilarious? Or cringingly painful? I still can not decide - maybe both.
Anyhoo, this has killed my time reasonably sufficiently, but that's about it - Hayley Mills is véry pleasant to look at. 5 out of 10.
First off, the 'kills' are pretty much a joke. Which is not a big problem, if the story is gripping and convincing. Though it has some clever elements and twists, the most important one (SHE is the killer) was pretty obvious to me after a good forty minutes. Furthermore the film balances between a proper production and a b-movie all too often. The biggest fun is to be had with a surprising attendance of the legendary Sterling Hayden, as some sort of rugged, bearded baron with overly grand posture to match... hilarious? Or cringingly painful? I still can not decide - maybe both.
Anyhoo, this has killed my time reasonably sufficiently, but that's about it - Hayley Mills is véry pleasant to look at. 5 out of 10.
Rarely seen but well worth tracking down!
The_Void3 December 2008
Deadly Strangers takes a rather familiar horror film situation as it's base; that being the idea of someone hitching a lift with a stranger. This is a classic horror film situation because of all the danger it presents and has lead to many classic films. With this film, director Sidney Hayers clearly did not have very much to work with; but he gets past this admirably by ensuring that the central situation and the characters are always interesting, and also puts a different spin on the situation - and in doing so proves that with talent, that is all that is needed to make a successful thriller. The plot begins in an asylum where a mental patient has escaped. We then fast forward to a young woman alone on the road after getting out of a car in which the driver requested too high a 'fare'. She ends up hitching a lift with a drunk, yet friendly, driver who agrees to give her a lift to the train station. However, it soon becomes obvious that the driver and the escaped mental patient may well be the same man!
Deadly Strangers is a British production; and it's refreshing to see a film like this take place in the unfamiliar setting of the British countryside, which makes a more than worthy place for the action to take place in; despite not being a particularly picturesque location. Simon Ward is the male half of the leading duo and does really well with the role; he plays it so as to make it obvious that his character has a defect, but for the most part it could be passed off as him being merely a bit strange. Hayley Mills is the other half and delivers the real standout performance; she gets to go through a range of emotions in the film and delivers a really effective portrayal of her character. The film runs at a steady pace throughout and draws the audience into the characters very well indeed. The film always gives the impression that it's building into something; and it doesn't disappoint. The final twist is hinted at throughout but still manages to be a surprise once it is finally unveiled and provides a strong ending for the film and ensures that most things make sense. Overall, this is rather difficult to find but its well worth tracking down. Recommended.
Deadly Strangers is a British production; and it's refreshing to see a film like this take place in the unfamiliar setting of the British countryside, which makes a more than worthy place for the action to take place in; despite not being a particularly picturesque location. Simon Ward is the male half of the leading duo and does really well with the role; he plays it so as to make it obvious that his character has a defect, but for the most part it could be passed off as him being merely a bit strange. Hayley Mills is the other half and delivers the real standout performance; she gets to go through a range of emotions in the film and delivers a really effective portrayal of her character. The film runs at a steady pace throughout and draws the audience into the characters very well indeed. The film always gives the impression that it's building into something; and it doesn't disappoint. The final twist is hinted at throughout but still manages to be a surprise once it is finally unveiled and provides a strong ending for the film and ensures that most things make sense. Overall, this is rather difficult to find but its well worth tracking down. Recommended.
Probably more enjoyable if you don't guess the twist.
BA_Harrison2 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Pretty hitch-hiker Belle Adams (Hayley Mills) accepts a lift from a young man, Stephen Slade (Simon Ward). On their journey, they run into trouble with a pair of bikers, knocking one of them off his motorcycle. Fearing that the biker might be dead, the couple try to avoid the police, who have set up roadblocks to catch a dangerous lunatic who has escaped from a local mental hospital.
A mere nine minutes into Deadly Strangers and I guessed the twist, which didn't really help my enjoyment of the film. Director Sidney Hayers heaps on the red herrings, and at one point I considered whether he was pulling a double-bluff, before I decided that the film wasn't that clever. I was right.
However, despite Deadly Strangers losing much of its intended impact due to my infallible deductive skills, I still had a reasonable time, the two leads putting in fine performances, Sterling Hayden lending fine support as eccentric old man Malcolm Robarts, and Hayers keeping the action moving at a fair pace, even though the rather slight storyline would probably have been better suited to a shorter format (apparently, it was originally intended as part of a TV anthology series).
Those who enjoy their thrillers on the exploitative side will certainly enjoy the film's more salacious elements: a gratuitous shot of a nurse's knicker gusset as the psycho attacks her; Belle's flashbacks to her youth, when she was abused by her uncle; Stephen's predilection for dirty magazines and peeping on semi-naked women; and, of course, a chance to finally see Hayley Mills as many a schoolboy of the '60s and '70s surely fantasised about - in sexy underwear and topless!
A mere nine minutes into Deadly Strangers and I guessed the twist, which didn't really help my enjoyment of the film. Director Sidney Hayers heaps on the red herrings, and at one point I considered whether he was pulling a double-bluff, before I decided that the film wasn't that clever. I was right.
However, despite Deadly Strangers losing much of its intended impact due to my infallible deductive skills, I still had a reasonable time, the two leads putting in fine performances, Sterling Hayden lending fine support as eccentric old man Malcolm Robarts, and Hayers keeping the action moving at a fair pace, even though the rather slight storyline would probably have been better suited to a shorter format (apparently, it was originally intended as part of a TV anthology series).
Those who enjoy their thrillers on the exploitative side will certainly enjoy the film's more salacious elements: a gratuitous shot of a nurse's knicker gusset as the psycho attacks her; Belle's flashbacks to her youth, when she was abused by her uncle; Stephen's predilection for dirty magazines and peeping on semi-naked women; and, of course, a chance to finally see Hayley Mills as many a schoolboy of the '60s and '70s surely fantasised about - in sexy underwear and topless!
It's Hayley's movie - of course!
nb214 September 2005
A melodramatic and exciting thriller, boasting a dead man's chest full of red herrings plus an excellent British cast ( and Sterling Hayden), this tale of mayhem will likely keep you guessing to the very end as the plot twists and turns with the very lovely and talented Hayley Mills and "Young Winston" star Simon Ward at their best.There is a bonus, too. What Roy Boulting gave us a teeny peek of in "The Family Way" during Miss Mills' bath scene is revealed in it's divine perfection as British Film Industry veteran Sidney Hayers gives us a bathtub scene of his own. The movie belongs to Hayley anyway so that was a nice gift. WOW!
Great British psycho killer road thriller.
HumanoidOfFlesh8 May 2010
"Deadly Strangers" opens with opens with a mysterious killer escaping from an asylum-type scene after murdering nurse.Haley Mills misses her train.She accepts a ride from a truck driver,who tries to rape her.She escapes and is then picked up by a mysterious who was watching her in the bar.He behaves suspiciously and may be an escaped lunatic...Very suspenseful and fast-paced thriller with a surprising twist ending often spoiled in various reviews.The film is currently only available on a rare VHS tape.It features Hayley Mills in several nude scenes and is told in flashbacks.The finale is gripping and suspenseful.I haven't seen Sidney Hayers "Assault" and "Revenge",but after enjoying "Deadly Strangers" I'd really like to.8 out of 10.
Give The Plot The Slightest Scrutiny And It Falls Apart
Theo Robertson16 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
A violent psychiatric patient escapes from a mental hospital . Nearby the next day Belle Adams is stuck in a roadside café . Accepting a life from a trucker she finds herself victim from unwanted attention by the trucker . Escapiing his clutches she staggers in to the road and his nearly hit by a car driven by Stephen Slade . Accepting a life from him she quickly becomes aware that he is doing all he can to avoid the police roadblocks searching for the patient
!!!!!! MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!!!
Sometimes someone comes up with a great idea that confounds all expectations . Reading the synopsis to this relatively unknown British thriller you'll be asking yourself why anyone wants to go out of their way to watch it because it has predictable written all over it . Innocent young woman accepts a lift from a stranger who is psychotic . The way the story is told is equally predictable . The producers don't have faith in the premise and therefore it gets padded out by having flashback scenes as if there's an agenda of employing as many actors as possible in a minimalist story . The cynicism extends to having Sterling Hayden appear wearing a comedy beard in order to appeal to American distributors and one constantly finds oneself asking why instead of melodrama we couldn't have had film confined to a slow burning tale involving two talking roles where the tension is slowly but surely cranked up until the shocking end
This has a relatively high average user rating . It's easy to see why because the ending is totally surprising and one that I didn't see coming . The problem is when you recall the rest of the story proceeding it then it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense whatsoever . When the patient escapes at the beginning they overpower a female nurse in an unpleasant scene that alludes to rape so we jump to the conclusion that Stephen is the escaped patient . When the cops arrive at the final scene they arrest Belle and it's rather obvious that by their reaction it is she who is the escaped patient who the authorities are hunting in a blaze of publicity . This was made in the mid 1970s when we didn't have 24 hour TV news broadcasting but yet every single character in the film knows there's an escaped maniac on the loose but unaware that she's female . The internal logic and continuity of the scenario doesn't hold up the slightest piece of scrutiny when given any thought . There's also another unpleasant scene where Stephen leaves Belle sleeping in the car , goes in to a shop and the young female counter assistant is murdered . We see the murder entirely take place through the murderer's POV then it cuts to Stephen going back to he car . You might think there might be a bit of ambiguity to this scene but it's almost certain Stephen carried out the murder , so we have a story about an escaped psychopath on the run from the police getting a lift from a serial killer . So what's the chances of anything like that remotely happening in real life ?
!!!!!! MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!!!
Sometimes someone comes up with a great idea that confounds all expectations . Reading the synopsis to this relatively unknown British thriller you'll be asking yourself why anyone wants to go out of their way to watch it because it has predictable written all over it . Innocent young woman accepts a lift from a stranger who is psychotic . The way the story is told is equally predictable . The producers don't have faith in the premise and therefore it gets padded out by having flashback scenes as if there's an agenda of employing as many actors as possible in a minimalist story . The cynicism extends to having Sterling Hayden appear wearing a comedy beard in order to appeal to American distributors and one constantly finds oneself asking why instead of melodrama we couldn't have had film confined to a slow burning tale involving two talking roles where the tension is slowly but surely cranked up until the shocking end
This has a relatively high average user rating . It's easy to see why because the ending is totally surprising and one that I didn't see coming . The problem is when you recall the rest of the story proceeding it then it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense whatsoever . When the patient escapes at the beginning they overpower a female nurse in an unpleasant scene that alludes to rape so we jump to the conclusion that Stephen is the escaped patient . When the cops arrive at the final scene they arrest Belle and it's rather obvious that by their reaction it is she who is the escaped patient who the authorities are hunting in a blaze of publicity . This was made in the mid 1970s when we didn't have 24 hour TV news broadcasting but yet every single character in the film knows there's an escaped maniac on the loose but unaware that she's female . The internal logic and continuity of the scenario doesn't hold up the slightest piece of scrutiny when given any thought . There's also another unpleasant scene where Stephen leaves Belle sleeping in the car , goes in to a shop and the young female counter assistant is murdered . We see the murder entirely take place through the murderer's POV then it cuts to Stephen going back to he car . You might think there might be a bit of ambiguity to this scene but it's almost certain Stephen carried out the murder , so we have a story about an escaped psychopath on the run from the police getting a lift from a serial killer . So what's the chances of anything like that remotely happening in real life ?
Deadly Strangers
a_baron18 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
From a personal perspective, this film has much in common with "Schizo". I watched them both on the big screen shortly after they were released, and watched them again recently. Both are low budget efforts with somewhat improbable plots; both have dashes of nudity from the damsel – this with somewhat less; both have endings decidedly at odds with their respective narratives. And both deliver.
"Deadly Strangers" is part road movie, part mystery, and part psychological thriller. Clearly the road movie element is a tall order in a country a fraction of a size of the United States, but every work of honest fiction is entitled to some poetic licence.
Herein, former child star Hayley Mills plays a young woman who clearly has issues, and just as clearly has more on her plate than missing the last train home. The big question: Is her enigmatic companion the escaped lunatic, and if so, will the police arrive in time? To find out for certain you must wait until the very end.
"Deadly Strangers" is part road movie, part mystery, and part psychological thriller. Clearly the road movie element is a tall order in a country a fraction of a size of the United States, but every work of honest fiction is entitled to some poetic licence.
Herein, former child star Hayley Mills plays a young woman who clearly has issues, and just as clearly has more on her plate than missing the last train home. The big question: Is her enigmatic companion the escaped lunatic, and if so, will the police arrive in time? To find out for certain you must wait until the very end.
Some nut just escaped from Greenwood!
kapelusznik186 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS**** Things went downhill fast for Belle Adams, Hayley Mills, right from the start in the crazy & bizarre film. Getting a ride to the Greenwood train station at a local truck stop. Belle is attacked by the horny trucker who just couldn't keep his eyes off her shapely legs instead of keeping his eye on the road. Being picked up by the drunk, he was celebrating his birthday, Stephen Slade, Simon Ward, a few minutes later Belle soon realizes that he's no better then the horny trucker who attempted to rape her! That in just how weird as well as disconnected from reality he is. Not getting in time to Greenwood to catch her train Belle soon forgets where she's going and stays with Stephen who seems to have developed a crush on her.
Endlessly driving around the English countryside and seeming to be going nowhere Belle soon leaves Stephen to buy some groceries at a local Food-Mart. It's then that she's confronted by this what looks like grizzly looking six foot five inch Lepechaun Malcolm Roberts played by, who was touted back in the 1940's as being the most handsome man in Hollywood, the unkempt and disheveled Sterling Hayden. It's Roberts who soon finds out, by looking at the days newspaper headline, that a inmate escaped from the Greenwood Mental Hospital who from the photo fits the description of Stephen Slade. In tying to warn Belle about him Roberts comes up short in not being able to keep up with them in his hopped-up looking 1930's jalopy.
****MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS**** In trying to figure out what's exactly going on in the movie we do get a major clue in a number of flashbacks involving Belle and her overly creepy and hot in the pants duck-billed looking Uncle Peter Jeffrey. It was Uncle Peter who molested Belle when she was a little girl that in fact ended up screwing up her head. And it was Belle's reaction to Uncle Peter's grouping and rape of her that in fact had her institutionalized! The trouble is that the clueless Stephen is totally unaware of that and in the end he's soon to become her next victim!
Endlessly driving around the English countryside and seeming to be going nowhere Belle soon leaves Stephen to buy some groceries at a local Food-Mart. It's then that she's confronted by this what looks like grizzly looking six foot five inch Lepechaun Malcolm Roberts played by, who was touted back in the 1940's as being the most handsome man in Hollywood, the unkempt and disheveled Sterling Hayden. It's Roberts who soon finds out, by looking at the days newspaper headline, that a inmate escaped from the Greenwood Mental Hospital who from the photo fits the description of Stephen Slade. In tying to warn Belle about him Roberts comes up short in not being able to keep up with them in his hopped-up looking 1930's jalopy.
****MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS**** In trying to figure out what's exactly going on in the movie we do get a major clue in a number of flashbacks involving Belle and her overly creepy and hot in the pants duck-billed looking Uncle Peter Jeffrey. It was Uncle Peter who molested Belle when she was a little girl that in fact ended up screwing up her head. And it was Belle's reaction to Uncle Peter's grouping and rape of her that in fact had her institutionalized! The trouble is that the clueless Stephen is totally unaware of that and in the end he's soon to become her next victim!
Memorable plot
dreaddy29 September 2004
Good movie plots remain with me. This is a movie I'd seen as a child and am lucky to find it here. It's a plot I've never forgotten and has quite a twist at the end. The only actor I remembered was Simon Ward. The acting was fine and, like so many of the British movies I've seen, nothing is overdone. No unnecessary violence and things blowing up for the sake of a boom. They don't write enough movies like this one. Other moves like this one is Vanishing Act with Elliot Gould, Silent Partner with Elliot Gould, and Sudden Fury (a very little known Canadian movie which should not be confused with the idiotic action film of the same name).
If you're the kind of movie fan who hates predictable movies then this movie is for you.
If you're the kind of movie fan who hates predictable movies then this movie is for you.
"Deadly Strangers" A Must-See
info-627-6644396 November 2015
Warning: Spoilers
1975's "Deadly Strangers" is a chilling must-see for Hayley Mills fans wherein she delivers a superlative performance as a hitch-hiker being pursued by a mysterious stranger played most effectively by Simon Ward. This film, directed by Sidney Hayers outdoes for Hayley's career what the Boulting Brothers did for her in "The Family Way" and "Twisted Nerve" in the late sixties. This film, despite its low-budget, makes the most of the economical script by Philip Levene and the expert use of Graham Edgar's cinematography and film editing by Barry Peters with music by Ron Goodwin. I think it completely shed her Disney image successfully, but finding a decent copy to share it with friends is perhaps the biggest outrage that the film subjects viewers to. Sterling Hayden is also in the cast in an unusual role. It does not seem to have been officially released in the U.S. except on VHS. Well worth the effort; it is entirely stylish and packs a wallop. I believe the director is also known for "Burn, Witch, Burn," but I'm not sure. Proof you can make cinema magic out of next to nothing.
It misses the mark....mostly due to sloppy writing.
planktonrules12 May 2017
"Deadly Strangers" is a very poor suspense movie--mostly due to bad pacing and really bad writing. I know several of the reviewers really liked it...but I just couldn't get past many odd dangling plot points.
The story begins with a maniac killing some folks at an institute for the criminally insane and disappearing. The next scene, Belle (Hayley Mills) is at a pub...trying to hitch a ride with someone. A truck driver takes her...and soon tries to molest her and she escapes. Soon, Stephen (Simon Ward) arrives and offers to take her the rest of the way. What follows is a very LONG cross country trek where OFTEN Stephen does criminal activities that simply make no sense AND Belle complains...but ultimately stays with him. By the end, you learn which of them is the psychotic murderer...and this really does NOT explain away a lot of what you'd previously seen!
The other problem with the film is that BOTH Stephen AND Belle keep having flashback scenes...far too often. It's just plain sloppy and the film left me frustrated because I wanted to see a good suspense picture....and didn't!
The story begins with a maniac killing some folks at an institute for the criminally insane and disappearing. The next scene, Belle (Hayley Mills) is at a pub...trying to hitch a ride with someone. A truck driver takes her...and soon tries to molest her and she escapes. Soon, Stephen (Simon Ward) arrives and offers to take her the rest of the way. What follows is a very LONG cross country trek where OFTEN Stephen does criminal activities that simply make no sense AND Belle complains...but ultimately stays with him. By the end, you learn which of them is the psychotic murderer...and this really does NOT explain away a lot of what you'd previously seen!
The other problem with the film is that BOTH Stephen AND Belle keep having flashback scenes...far too often. It's just plain sloppy and the film left me frustrated because I wanted to see a good suspense picture....and didn't!
10/10 As a forgotten gem. Very enjoyable.
mulcahyj-0754520 May 2019
NO SPOILERS HERE!! But it is out there to watch on something called TubeYou or something.
If you find it there it is grainy VHS copy. I found two copies. One the sound was terrible, I was watching with headphones with sound through one ear, the other sound I think was full stereo but the picture quality was just as poor. If this was written and filmed today in a similar manner I think it would do well on TV or DOV. Maybe even as a released major film outright. But I liked it just as it was. I just stumbled on it. I had no recollection of seeing it before. I found it very original though you can see the themes it was based on in previous movies and some to this day may have stolen from this.
Why did I enjoy it? Simon Ward and Hayley MIlls both played their characters as somewhat likeable, suspicious, downright dangerous or innocently entwined in the plot events. The surrounding cast also play their roles in a brilliant similar fashion. Are they 'normal' or have side plot intended violence intentions or just trying to helpful.
Even at the very end of the movie I was not quite sure what the conclusion would be and the intention of side characters.
Some people think the ending of the movie was what they expected. But I have a feeling that if it ended differently they would say they could see that conclusion coming instead.
Very enjoyable. 10/10 is because it was an unexpected find I had no knowledge of. Not a classic. But when you stumble upon movie like this and sit back enjoy it is what film is really about sometimes. Everything so diverse and movies you miss and find and are enthralled.
And then you wonder..Why wasn't this a sleeper hit in the 70's? Find and watch while you still can!
Why did I enjoy it? Simon Ward and Hayley MIlls both played their characters as somewhat likeable, suspicious, downright dangerous or innocently entwined in the plot events. The surrounding cast also play their roles in a brilliant similar fashion. Are they 'normal' or have side plot intended violence intentions or just trying to helpful.
Even at the very end of the movie I was not quite sure what the conclusion would be and the intention of side characters.
Some people think the ending of the movie was what they expected. But I have a feeling that if it ended differently they would say they could see that conclusion coming instead.
Very enjoyable. 10/10 is because it was an unexpected find I had no knowledge of. Not a classic. But when you stumble upon movie like this and sit back enjoy it is what film is really about sometimes. Everything so diverse and movies you miss and find and are enthralled.
And then you wonder..Why wasn't this a sleeper hit in the 70's? Find and watch while you still can!
Pretty good!
BandSAboutMovies9 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Someone has escaped Greenwood Mental Hospital, broken into someone's home and stolen a car. And now, they're on the loose.
Could it be Stephen Slade? He has the same car as the one that has just been stolen. And why is he stalking Belle Adams (Hayley Mills!) when she heads home from the bar with a truck driver that assaults her? He saves her and then keeps telling her less than truths to stay in her company.
The evidence keeps piling up, as through flashbacks gradually reveal that Stephen is a voyeur - and Belle is an abused orphan whose uncle used to watch her, so maybe they aren't meant to be - and when they stop for gas, the one lone female employee ends up dead.
As they avoid roadblocks - at first because Stephen's been drinking and later because they may have injured a motorcyclist who was bothering them - it seems like they're growing closer. But is that the worst possible thing for Belle? Or Stephen?
Directed by Sidney Hayers (Burn, Witch Burn; Assault), this film definitely has the giallo vibes of red herrings, mistaken identity and a question of who the killer is well in hand. This doesn't get discussed much but it's definitely worth a watch.
Could it be Stephen Slade? He has the same car as the one that has just been stolen. And why is he stalking Belle Adams (Hayley Mills!) when she heads home from the bar with a truck driver that assaults her? He saves her and then keeps telling her less than truths to stay in her company.
The evidence keeps piling up, as through flashbacks gradually reveal that Stephen is a voyeur - and Belle is an abused orphan whose uncle used to watch her, so maybe they aren't meant to be - and when they stop for gas, the one lone female employee ends up dead.
As they avoid roadblocks - at first because Stephen's been drinking and later because they may have injured a motorcyclist who was bothering them - it seems like they're growing closer. But is that the worst possible thing for Belle? Or Stephen?
Directed by Sidney Hayers (Burn, Witch Burn; Assault), this film definitely has the giallo vibes of red herrings, mistaken identity and a question of who the killer is well in hand. This doesn't get discussed much but it's definitely worth a watch.
Could anyone explain to me ?
searchanddestroy-13 July 2008
Warning: Spoilers
There is something in this picture I really don't understand. I missed it or I'm dumb....
Where the couple - Mills and Ward - are at the gas station, after the tank of their car is filled up and the girl employee has returned in her cottage, the couple gets back into the car, and then Ward says to Mills "I'll be back" - something like that. Mills stays in the car and Ward gets out.
OK ?
In the scene after, the girl of the gas station is molested. We of course don't see who did that. We suppose it's Ward. The same returns to the car several seconds later while Mills seems to be asleep...
Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS !!
So, when we discover, at the end, that Mills is the murderer on the loose from the lunatic asylum, we wonder how the hell could have she killed - or even rape!!! - the girl at the gas station while Ward was also in the corner. And what did he himself do in the same time?
Or was he the real assassin of the employee ?
I suppose so...
In conclusion, Mills and Ward were a couple of killers without knowing about each other !!!
Where the couple - Mills and Ward - are at the gas station, after the tank of their car is filled up and the girl employee has returned in her cottage, the couple gets back into the car, and then Ward says to Mills "I'll be back" - something like that. Mills stays in the car and Ward gets out.
OK ?
In the scene after, the girl of the gas station is molested. We of course don't see who did that. We suppose it's Ward. The same returns to the car several seconds later while Mills seems to be asleep...
Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS Beware SPOILERS !!
So, when we discover, at the end, that Mills is the murderer on the loose from the lunatic asylum, we wonder how the hell could have she killed - or even rape!!! - the girl at the gas station while Ward was also in the corner. And what did he himself do in the same time?
Or was he the real assassin of the employee ?
I suppose so...
In conclusion, Mills and Ward were a couple of killers without knowing about each other !!!
Answer to Guenot and opinion
padutchland-120 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Guenot - I took that scene to mean that Hayley went into the station and killed the female attendant. If you remember the scene before, she saw the girl flirting with Simon Ward while she pumped the gasoline. Hayley had a weird look on her face, some kind of jealousy. There was no indication of rape that I saw, just that the girl was murdered. The murder wasn't shown purposely so that you wouldn't know who did it, but would suspect Simon (red herring). Therefore, I think we can safely conclude that Hayley did it, then climbed back into the car before Simon returned.
Simon Ward did a great job playing James Herriot in the All Creatures Great and Small movie. And good old Sterling Hayden still knew how to turn in a great performance near the end of his career. Of course, all of Hayley's male fans are very appreciative of her bare bottom bathtub scene. All in all, it was a very good film and I liked the Hitchcock feel that ran throughout it. Recommended to all suspense movie fans.
Simon Ward did a great job playing James Herriot in the All Creatures Great and Small movie. And good old Sterling Hayden still knew how to turn in a great performance near the end of his career. Of course, all of Hayley's male fans are very appreciative of her bare bottom bathtub scene. All in all, it was a very good film and I liked the Hitchcock feel that ran throughout it. Recommended to all suspense movie fans.
Hayley Mills comes full circle
lazarillo16 August 2008
A young woman (Hayley Mills) misses her train and is forced to hitchhike. After a misadventure with a horny truck driver who wants her to pay a "fare", she is picked up by a handsome but mysterious stranger (Simon Ward) who may just have escaped from an asylum for the criminally insane. This is a familiar role for Hayley Mills that she had basically performed several times before: the pretty dolly bird who meets a slimy creep that she is nevertheless somewhat sexually attracted to (except that her usual co-star Hywel Bennet is replaced here by Simon Ward). When she played this role back in "Twisted Nerve", however, she was still coming off her wholesome Disney image, and was appealing, but also pretty two-dimensional. In "Endless Night" she played a troubled heiress and had little more of a rounded character and performance. In this movie the back-story of her character, revealed in flashbacks where she is orphaned in a car accident and sent to live with a lecherous uncle, might make her even more troubled than the sinister young man who picks her up. (There is in fact a great twist at the end here that I don't want to reveal).
Ironically, Mills first played this "endangered innocent" role as a child actress way back even before Disney in 1959's "Tiger Bay" (where she plays a pre-pubescent girl who steals a gun and befriends a murderer). It took her this long, in what was basically to be her last film, to get back to the acting and fully developed roles in which she first started. It was revealed years later that Mills had been offered, and nearly accepted, the title role in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita". And while that notorious role ruined the career (and perhaps life) of the actress who eventually took it (Sue Lyon), it might have actually been better for Mills than all the saccharine, cloying Disney movies she got typecast in.
This is pretty much Mills show all the way. Ward is good but pretty functional. It's generally well directed by journeyman director Sid Hayers ("Assault", "Circus of Horror", "Revenge"). Sterling Hayden shows up in a cameo as an eccentric old coot (and his character's harmless flirtations with Mills have some unintentional sexual tension given that in real life she had recently married a man about Hayden's age). And, oh yes, and for those of you whose minds are in the gutter (along with mine), Mills also has some nice nude scenes. Good luck finding this as it is undeservedly very obscure today, but it's definitely recommended.
Ironically, Mills first played this "endangered innocent" role as a child actress way back even before Disney in 1959's "Tiger Bay" (where she plays a pre-pubescent girl who steals a gun and befriends a murderer). It took her this long, in what was basically to be her last film, to get back to the acting and fully developed roles in which she first started. It was revealed years later that Mills had been offered, and nearly accepted, the title role in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita". And while that notorious role ruined the career (and perhaps life) of the actress who eventually took it (Sue Lyon), it might have actually been better for Mills than all the saccharine, cloying Disney movies she got typecast in.
This is pretty much Mills show all the way. Ward is good but pretty functional. It's generally well directed by journeyman director Sid Hayers ("Assault", "Circus of Horror", "Revenge"). Sterling Hayden shows up in a cameo as an eccentric old coot (and his character's harmless flirtations with Mills have some unintentional sexual tension given that in real life she had recently married a man about Hayden's age). And, oh yes, and for those of you whose minds are in the gutter (along with mine), Mills also has some nice nude scenes. Good luck finding this as it is undeservedly very obscure today, but it's definitely recommended.
See also
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